Govt Allocates Rp 114 Trillion to Speed up Development

The government has allocated Rp114 trillion in funds to finance 155 action plans to speed up the implementation of 11 priority programs this year, a chief economic minister said. The funds were taken from the 2010 state budget and the revised 2010 state budget, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Radjasa said after a meeting at the vice presidential palace here on Friday.

The 155 action plans included those in the fields of economy, people’s welfare, and politics, law and security, he said. "Of the total, Rp91.7 trillion is made available in the 2010 state budget and the remaining Rp22.3 trillion in the revised 2010 state budget," he said.

Deputy Minister for National Development Planning Lukita Dinarsyah Tuwo meanwhile said the funds made available in the revised 2010 state budget would be used to finance priority programs scheduled for completion this year. The programs include the construction of Kuala Namu airport in Medan, North Sumatra, which is 74 percent completed. "The project will need Rp600 billion to complete," he said.

Other programs that would be financed with funds from the revised 2010 state budget were the addition and repair of correctional facilities across the country and the procurement of 1,000 motor boats for fishermen, he said. He said the repair of correctional facilities would cost an estimated Rp1 trillion. "So far the government has procured 60 motor boats at a cost of Rp1.5 billion. The rest will be gradually procured in 2011 and 2012," he said.